Black Cat & Night Cat -- Thieving Twins

(Author's note: Fun fact you might not have known, or overlooked -- in the Marvel Zombies reality, Felicia Hardy has a twin sister, Felicity, who happens to be a fellow thief named Night Cat. There's gotta be a fun story in the whole twin thing, right?)

It had been a long day at ESU for Gwen, and not just because of her classes. Someone had hired Shocker, among others, to attack the campus and steal an expensive prototype being worked on there. Gwen had a passing familiarity with the project, with scientists working on it telling her that they'd hoped it would be a breakthrough in curing addictions. Gwen was fascinated by it and had hoped to learn more, but Shocker led a group of thugs in an attack on the campus grounds; ultimately, this ended up being a diversion, as the prototype was stolen. Gwen had suspected that she was distracted, but when it came down to protecting the prototype or protecting innocent people, the choice was obvious. It always was.

Looking for leads on who might have hired Shocker, Gwen decided to pay visits to fronts and hideouts for the usual suspects. Kingpin. The Maggia. Silvermane. Maybe nothing would turn up on the prototype right away, but even disrupting their operations a little would at least make Gwen feel a little better that night.

After busting a **** smuggling operation of Hammerhead's, Felicia decided to pay a visit to one of Wilson Fisk's office buildings, where she saw a familiar figure clad in a tight black catsuit. *Uh-oh... Black Cat's back in town. When did that happen?* Gwen wondered.

"Hey, you. I'd been hoping I'd run into you since I came back to town," Felicia smirked as Gwen landed on the rooftop. "How's Red doing?"

"MJ's in California right now... we're kind of on a break. It's, uh, it's complicated," Gwen answered.

"Hmm. Too bad. I'd hoped the three of us could have some fun together, like old times," Felicia said in that playful tone that drove Gwen nuts. "At least I still have you to play with."

"All right, we both know where this is going. I guess I'm up for another round of cat-and-mouse. But before we begin, let me ask you something -- if I'm always chasing you, doesn't that make *me* the cat?"

Felicia giggled coyly at the question. "Sweetie, you should know by now... when we play cat-and-mouse... I'm *always* the cat," she teased, tossing a flashbang and leaping off the rooftop.

After about 15 minutes of chasing Felicia, Gwen was sure she had her cornered in an alley. Whatever it was she was stealing, she wasn't getting away with it this time. Or at least, that's what Gwen thought, until she spotted Felicia on a building in the distance.

"Over here, Spider..."

Gwen couldn't believe it -- she'd seen Felicia jump into that alley. There was no way she could have possibly gotten over to that rooftop. Was she working with someone else? A teleporting mutant, perhaps? Maybe Nightcrawler or Blink? Gwen turned and once again began pursuing Felicia across the Manhattan rooftops, eventually cornering her in another alleyway.

"Game's over, Felicia -- looks like I win this round. Hand over whatever it is you stole," Gwen demanded.

"Why, I have no idea what you're talking about," Felicia said with a smug grin. "You'll notice I have nothing on me... unless I'm hiding what I stole in the suit. I guess you'll have to frisk me to find that out."

Gwen looked around -- Felicia was right. She'd noticed Felicia carrying a bag when she initially encountered her, and that bag was gone. Whatever Felicia had stolen, it was nowhere to be found. And as tempting as the frisking idea was, Gwen knew that if Felicia had something on her, she wouldn't have been so eager to make the offer.

Gwen heard a voice behind her, and turned around. "I stashed our loot in the location we discussed, Felicity. You're still as good as ever. Hey, Spider."

Gwen looked at the woman in shock, and looked back at the woman she'd been chasing. There were two Black Cats, now? Was this some sort of clone thing?

"Good. I've been entertaining your friend here for you... I can see why you talk so much about her -- she's cute. Fun, too."

"You should see her without the mask on," Felicia said to her twin. "So hot."

Gwen was baffled. "OK, so now there's two of you. That's awesome. Just... awesome. But if you're Felicia, then who the hell have I been chasing for the past twenty minutes?"

"Oh, of course. Where are my manners? Spider, I'd like you to meet my twin sister, Felicity."